# Questionable Content Joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710 "2009-10-13T22:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/21 "2009-10-14T03:06:31Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > I’ve never seen the strip before, so I just hit Random to see if there’s any female character I wouldn’t want to bang. No luck yet… You _wouldn’t_ want to bang? You have very broad standards, sir or ma’am. I’m a Penelope/Pizza Girl man, myself. ETA, and I see I wrote “Magna Carter” in post #17. Curse you, Gaudere! ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/22 "2009-10-14T10:07:19Z")
How do you know there are 3 jokes? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/23 "2009-10-14T10:32:27Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > How do you know there are 3 jokes? In the notes right below the comic the artist says: > [@](#): > > That is possibly the nerdiest panel 4 I have ever written. To the 5% of my audience who gets all three jokes, I salute you and your English degrees. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/24 "2009-10-14T11:57:12Z")
Sign in the front panel says “Smith”, t-shirt in third panel says “Smif”? ETA: I should read the other posts closer. Another “tim” made the same point. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/25 "2009-10-14T12:04:18Z")
> [@Bernard\_Marx](#): > > If it were _Winston_ Library at Smith College, there would be an obvious 1984 reference there (you’d be really stretching it to call it a joke though)…I admit I’m clutching at straws here. I reread the sign to clarify that, myself. And I enjoy the irony of YOU making a 1984 reference. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ministryman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@ministryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ministryman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/26 "2009-10-14T14:08:29Z")
My two cents: 1. The Lewis Carroll reference. 2. Her response is IN Iambic Pentameter 3. SMIF instead of Smith. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/27 "2009-10-14T16:09:30Z")
Two of the jokes are obviously her response being iambic pentameter and the “do we decimal?” pun. The third is probably supposed to be a Jabberwocky reference. It’s wrong, as others have pointed out. But if you Google “oh joyous day” you’ll find that many people do mistakenly think that the word is joyous rather than frabjous. > **[Kara Swisher - AllThingsD](https://allthingsd.com/author/kara/)** > [@](#): > > Hast thou slain the Jabberwock!?!? > Come to me, my beamish boy! > Oh joyous day! Callou-callay! > He chortled in his joy.” Maybe 5% of them do. That would the joke on him, wouldn’t it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2009, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/28 "2009-10-14T21:22:05Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > [Kara Swisher - AllThingsD](http://kara.allthingsd.com/20071017/day-92-oh-joyous-day-well-one-out-of-one-hundred-at-least/) My favorite thing about that quote is the end of the first line: “!?!?” You’d expect Lewis Carroll to finish the stanza: > [@](#): > > OMFG, my beamish boy! > I’m LOL, that’s 1337 as 4e11!" > he texted in his joy. Daniel sad nobody picked up on the joke in his first post ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/29 "2009-10-15T01:11:09Z")
Well, the sentence _Oh joy’ous day’, you’ pass’ed the test’!_ is itself in iambic pentameter, isn’t it? Though I thought that WAS the first joke, the second one being the Dewey / Do We pun, and still not sure of the third one. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/30 "2009-10-15T02:22:38Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Well, the sentence _Oh joy’ous day’, you’ pass’ed the test’!_ is itself in iambic pentameter, isn’t it? Not as you wrote it. You can’t have three straight stressed syllables. The “you’re hired” at the end is needed for the fifth pairing. (And passed is one syllable.) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/31 "2009-10-15T03:00:40Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > OMFG, my beamish boy! > I’m LOL, that’s 1337 as 4e11!" > he texted in his joy. That was most excellent. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/32 "2009-10-15T03:19:42Z")
Holy crap thanks a lot for posting this, I’ve read from 1-700 so far today. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/33 "2009-10-15T04:22:38Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Not as you wrote it. You can’t have three straight stressed syllables. The “you’re hired” at the end is needed for the fifth pairing. (And passed is one syllable.) I pronounce hired as two syllables. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/34 "2009-10-15T11:50:13Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > I pronounce hired as two syllables. I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/35 "2009-10-15T14:37:48Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > I pronounce hired as two syllables. Most people, if asked to pronounce hired alone and out of context, probably would give it the proper two syllables. Just as they would pronounce passed as only one syllable in all contexts. But in normal speech hired is pronounced something like hir’d, with the second syllable slurred and combined. And for this poetic purpose, hir’d and pass’d get a single syllable and stress. I didn’t say it was great poetry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/36 "2009-10-15T15:09:38Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > More to the point, isn’t that whole bit in iambic pentameter? I was thinking that, but her last line isn’t Iambic pentameter… well, maybe if we turned “ever” into “ev’r” … then again, her line with “you’re hired” would have to be hir’d to make it iambic pentameter, too… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/37 "2009-10-15T15:29:23Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > I was thinking that, but her last line isn’t Iambic pentameter… well, maybe if we turned “ever” into “ev’r” … then again, her line with “you’re hired” would have to be hir’d to make it iambic pentameter, too… When I said “that whole bit” I only meant the balloon with _“Oh joyous day…”_ in it, as per the quote from squeegee. The first joke is that realizing the application is in iambic pentameter _ **is** _ the test; it’d be a perfectly good one-joke strip if it ended right there with a quick “You’re hired.” The second joke is that she answers his question about iambic in iambic pentameter, which prompts a quick _“What?”_ before he says _“Oh, I get it.”_ The third joke is the _“Do we ever!”_ pun, which doesn’t _ **need** _ iambic pentameter; she’s already made that joke, he already got it, she’s moved on to something else. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/38 "2009-10-15T15:58:31Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > You _wouldn’t_ want to bang? You have very broad standards, sir or ma’am. Well, not the blonde crazy one–but the rest (gay & straight) are all incredibly hot…at least in the eyes of this dude. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/39 "2009-10-17T00:44:38Z")
Check out Dora in panel 3 of [today’s](http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1515) comic. Hot indeed. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710/40 "2009-10-17T01:21:19Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Well, not the blonde crazy one–but the rest (gay & straight) are all incredibly hot…at least in the eyes of this dude. It helps that they all look basically the same. At least, all of the ones within the next 10 strips or so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questionable-content-joke/513710.md?page=3)